Software tools for preventing the automatic shutdown of a computer (or removal of a user's access to a computer network) in the absence of user activity therewith are well known. However, these software tools are subject to software failure and are designed to operate upon specific software platforms (e.g. MSWindows and Linux). Consequently, existing software tools for preventing the automatic shutdown of a computer system are typically inflexible and incapable of operation upon multiple software platforms.
A mouse is a well-known computer peripheral device. More specifically, a mouse is an input device to a host computer wherein the mouse is physically movable by a user to provide access to desired software features on the host computer. In use, movement of the mouse is detected by an on-board sensor (e.g. an infrared sensor) and the resulting sensor signal is transmitted to the host computer through a USB or PS2 port. Alternatively, the sensor signal may be transmitted to the host computer using a wireless technology such as Bluetooth. The format of the data transmitted by the mouse is typically standardized in accordance with protocols for a “Human Interface Device”. On receipt of a signal indicating movement of the mouse, the host computer's operating system moves a cursor on the host-computer's screen.
In addition with the above navigational functionality, a mouse is also typically provided with buttons which when pressed by the user typically activate a required program or software feature. While mice are manufactured with increasingly sophisticated on-board technologies (e.g. optical mice are provided with image processing features to facilitate image analysis), the output data from a mouse is nonetheless exclusively determined by a user's immediate input to the mouse (i.e. movement of the mouse or depression of a button).
While some operating systems (e.g. Windows 3.1) have facilities to record and replay keyboard and mouse movement sequences these facilities are typically dependent upon the specific operating system of the host-computer. Furthermore, the record and replay facility may be disabled to prevent virus activity and in many cases may not be easily reactivated by the user.
Some operating systems incorporate software to schedule programs at certain times, but these task scheduling software systems typically suffer from a number of limitations. For example, the CPU overhead of implementing task scheduling software typically slows the operation of a host computer. Furthermore, the task scheduling software may not be implemented or may be disabled on a host-computer. Finally, existing task scheduling software systems may not operate with programs requiring human interaction (e.g. games etc.). Consequently, existing task scheduling software systems may be unreliable insofar as they fail to carry out a required operation.